Cultivation: Starting from a Fighting Cock

Chapter 16 The Masked Civet

For robbers, killing someone after robbing them of their valuables is just a convenient thing to do.

"Master, the young master is absolutely right. It's a miracle that the four of us are still alive!"

Tian Gui felt a wave of fear as he recalled the incident, and his legs trembled slightly.

He would never forget that two years ago, when Cui Sheng was escorting goods, he also encountered robbers. That time, Cui Sheng almost lost his life. Although he was saved, he became a cripple.

Compared to others, the four of them were truly lucky. Being alive and well is better than anything else, since the money belonged to the Zhao family, but their lives were their own.

Master Zhao then asked, "Have you informed the eldest son about this matter?"

Zhao Qian was also in Zishui City and worked in the county government. He thought that after the four people were robbed, they should go to Zhao Qian as soon as possible to explain the matter, which might be able to make amends.

"No... Master, the four of us rushed back to report to you immediately..."

Tian Gui said weakly. He then realized that they should have looked for the eldest young master in Zishui City, which was nearby, but the four of them were so frightened at the time that they didn't think about such things.

Master Zhao was extremely disappointed. He waved his hand and told the four of them to leave and rest.

Zhao Kun was about to speak when he suddenly coughed.

Butler Huang quickly stepped forward and patted him on the back a few times, advising him to sit down and rest, calm down, and not to act impulsively.

This is Zhao Kun's old problem. He has been weak and sickly since childhood. When his emotions fluctuate, he will cough violently and have an irregular heartbeat, which will make him pale, weak and anemic. In severe cases, he will even faint.

If it were anyone else with this illness, they would have died long ago. Take Master Zhao's precious son, whom he had finally managed to have, for example. He died at the age of two and a half, and his symptoms were exactly the same as Zhao Kun's.

Zhao Kun is only alive now thanks to the meticulous medical treatment he received from his father, but even that could only barely keep him alive; there was no cure.

In recent years, Zhao Kun's illness has worsened considerably, and Master Zhao has put the marriage agreement with the Cui family on the agenda, partly as a way to bring good luck to Zhao Kun.

"Kun'er, quickly drink your medicine!"

Master Zhao brought a bowl of medicinal soup from the kitchen and quickly fed it to Zhao Kun once his cough had subsided.

After drinking the medicinal soup, Zhao Kun's frighteningly pale face finally regained some color, and his cough finally stopped.

He forced a smile and said, "Dad, I'm alright."

When my older brother came back before, he said he would teach him a boxing style to help him recover. But after my older brother's blood transfusion failed, he probably forgot about it.

However, Zhao Kun didn't think much of it. Given his physical condition, how could he possibly practice any kind of boxing?

"Father, I'm wondering if there's any connection between the blood transfusion medicine I bought for my eldest brother a while ago being stolen and the robbery of Master Tian and the other three in Zishui City this time?"

Zhao Kun did not believe that the series of robberies that had befallen the Zhao family during this period were accidental.

"This... Kun'er, what do you mean?"

Master Zhao's expression turned serious; Zhao Kun's words had awakened him.

He immediately wrote a letter to his eldest son, Zhao Qian, informing him of the robbery of Tian Gui and the other three in Zishui City, and asking Zhao Qian if he had recently made any enemies.
……

at night.

Ji Cheng flew to the old persimmon tree again, enjoying the breeze and gazing at the surrounding fields.

He likes to stand on high ground to enjoy the view, and he especially likes to talk to the big yellow dog from this angle.

Now, he has a general understanding of the spatial layout of Wuzhen and has seen many places from above.

He still didn't have the courage to explore the dark, rugged forest to the west.

He would only go to open areas where there was no danger at a glance. In that dark, gloomy forest, nothing could be seen, as if shrouded in a black fog. Ji Cheng suspected that there might be terrifying monsters in the forest.

In fact, he was quite looking forward to seeing other demonic beasts and seeing if he could absorb a wisp of demonic energy.

Of course, this is all on the premise that he won't be eaten by those monsters. The possibility of that is extremely low. Encountering monsters is equivalent to encountering mortal danger. If possible, Ji Cheng still hopes to develop peacefully and quietly.

After earning the title of "Wind-blown Chicken," Ji Cheng often overlooked Wuzhen at night.

He was certain that, apart from the big yellow dog, there was no other demonic beast in Wuzhen.

Wuzhen is truly a place of simple and honest folk customs. Apart from the chaos of gangs and the prevalence of gambling, there are really no demons or monsters causing trouble for the people.

Ji Cheng heard that in some large cities outside, cockfighting was no longer popular, but animal fighting was.

Many monsters were captured and forced into deadly battles to amuse people, much like cockfighting, only on a much larger scale.

"Huh? What?"

As Ji Cheng was thinking, he suddenly noticed something flash past his eyes.

His gaze instantly shifted to the base of the wall in the backyard, where he saw that the thing that had just run quickly across the fields had now crawled in through the dog hole in the backyard of the Zhao residence.

This thing is all black, with patterns on its face, and looks like a wildcat, but it is more slender.

It has a round head, a short, thick neck, large, protruding ears, and an extremely long tail, making it look very wild and quite frightening.

Ji Cheng recognized it as a masked palm civet, also known as a civet cat, belonging to the Viverridae family, and also called a white-fronted civet.

This thing is like a weasel; it likes to steal chickens to eat, but it's bigger and stronger than a weasel.

The masked palm civet scurried in through the dog hole, glanced around, and headed straight for the chickens in the cage.

In the backyard of the Zhao family mansion, besides Ji Cheng, the ever-victorious general, there are currently two chickens: one is a large red rooster that is responsible for crowing, and the other is a fighting rooster that Second Master Zhao just bought.

The two chickens, which had been kept in separate cages, became agitated upon seeing the masked palm civet.

The masked palm civet went straight for the majestic-looking red rooster. It used its front paws to grab at the rooster through the cage, while the rooster frantically flapped its wings inside the cage, finding nowhere to escape.

"Hey, Big Yellow, are you in Ganzhou?"

Ji Cheng couldn't help but speak up. This big yellow dog was still sleeping. Damn it, isn't guarding the house your job?

The big yellow dog glanced at the tabby cat indifferently, then looked away and continued to lie down and sleep, showing no intention of paying any attention to it.

Soon, the big red rooster had several deep scratches on one leg from the masked fox, and it struggled and pecked at its opponent desperately.

Five or six minutes later, the big red rooster stopped moving. Its injuries were too severe, and it had lost too much blood. It leaned against the innermost part of the cage, using its last bit of strength to kick its legs.

Ji Cheng wanted to save the big red rooster, but for some reason, he held back.

The masked palm civet destroyed the cage and dragged out the dying red rooster, which was its prey for the night. Then it successfully crawled out through the dog hole.

"Wang!"

At this point, the big yellow dog barked once, albeit symbolically.

In Ji Cheng's opinion, its cry sounded more like a yawn.

"Big Yellow, you are a disgrace to be a demon beast. The Zhao family raised you to guard their home, but you can't even protect a chicken. Aren't you ashamed?"

Ji Cheng landed in the yard, looked at the chicken blood and feathers all over the ground, and began to question the big yellow dog.

In reality, he remained calm and unmoved, after all, it was just a mindless rooster that had died.

Animals without intelligence do not know what life or death is. They do not think; they simply follow their instincts to eat, drink, and excrete. For them, death is just a matter of a moment.

Ji Cheng was like a fishmonger who had been killing fish at RT-Mart for ten years; his heart had long since become harder than iron.

Having transmigrated into the body of a chicken, he has witnessed the deaths of many fighting roosters at his hands, yet he feels no sympathy for his fellow roosters.

At that moment, he was simply curious—why didn't the big yellow dog stop the civet from stealing the chicken?
(End of this chapter)